Socialism and Climate Change

Humankind is on a path to disaster. Unless global heating can be kept down to 2 degrees, many areas of the planet will become uninhabitable and the livelihoods of billions of people will be put in jeopardy. Even 1.5 degrees will bring devastation. Our societies will not be capable of managing the disasters and dislocations that await us.

The urgent need to reduce greenhouse emissions is accepted by all rational people. Yet we continue to burn fossil fuels. And apart from a brief dip due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the trend is still upwards.

“System change”

Climate activists across the world understand that our political and economic systems are unable to respond to the unfolding climate crisis. Calls for system change are intensifying as the actions of world leaders fail to act responsibly.

The two critical changes to halt and reverse global heating are:

1. An end to the burning of fossil fuels, and
2. A huge expansion of green electricity, mainly with solar and wind energy.

Without achieving these two goals, the ending of greenhouse gas emissions will be impossible.

The reason why world leaders are so helpless in the face of the climate crisis is that our economic systems are addicted to fossil fuels. Moving away from fossil fuels quickly requires an end to to the free markets that dominate our economies.

The climate movement and socialism

A socialist system, in which economic decisions are made democratically in the interests of people and the environment, will enable a rapid and just transition away from carbon economies. There is a clear link between the goals of the climate movement and the ideals of socialism.

Can a solution to the crisis be found under capitalism? Many socialist think not. For them, capitalism is incapable of a planned reorganisation on the scale required.

Existential crisis

But the world is entering an unprecedented and existential global crisis. The pressures on leaders to act will become enormous.

A number of scientists and activists have pointed to the second world war, in which governments virtually took over the running of their countries’ economies. They argue for similar action to fight the climate crisis, and spell out how this could be achieved.

We aren’t in a position to know whether this is possible. And if it does happen, it will not happen smoothly. Huge disruptions and conflicts will be inevitable. Governments will be tempted to become more authoritarian. The possibility exists for an end to the climate crisis and the revival of a harsher, stronger version of capitalism.